My humble SPS journey - Shallow 80g

[joshky]

Colours are starting to come through really nicely again Josh Love the blue tip elegance too!
As Conor said the wrasse is a definite stunner!!

Thanks Dom, I think I'm going to try and take more photos of my acros this weekend so we can all collectively compare how things are doing in a few weeks. I'm really happy with the progress some of the pieces have already made in the short amount of time since the switch, others are pretty bad off but hanging in there. I'm really close to losing 2-3 pieces, major STN and completely browned out, but I think I've already seen one of them start to recover some so we'll see.

It's too soon to praise this rock, even though I pretty much already am, but I do expect a few surprises. I just don't think they'll be nearly as bad to deal with as the dinos, I would not wish that on anyone.

 

[plyle02]

Coming along nicely Josh! I love the scape, and it is going to be purdy when those frags grow a bit, good stuff buddy!!!

 

[joshky]

Coming along nicely Josh! I love the scape, and it is going to be purdy when those frags grow a bit, good stuff buddy!!!

Thanks Perry! The fish love, I mean absolutely love the new scape as well. Before they had some weird swimming behaviors but with this new rock/aquascape they are much more at ease and it's very natural looking. It has multiple overhangs and swim-throughs (built into a couple of the rock pieces) in it that I didn't fully capture in the photos I took. The best overhang is hidden by the 100+ head duncan colony that I'm thinking of rehoming as it's outgrowing my system and I don't have the heart to frag it up. I had to put it there because it's so top heavy it's hard to actually place it somewhere in the tank where it'll stay put with my shallow sand bed.

 

[joshky]

I wasn't able to get a picture of everything and kind of rushed things in the end so some of the quality is sub par, but this should give you a good idea of how my acros are doing. I pretty much had a mini crash thanks to the dinos, but things are back on track now I believe, so hopefully that's behind me. I'm seeing amazing improvement from acros everyday, the Oregon Tort for example was almost pure brown before I got the new rock and look at it now.

A. efflorescens

A. vermiculata

Oregon Tort

Red (brown) Planet

A. valida

T. maxima

 

[Wrangy]

That maxima :inlove::inlove::inlove: holy **** it's gorgeous!!

Thanks Dom, I think I'm going to try and take more photos of my acros this weekend so we can all collectively compare how things are doing in a few weeks. I'm really happy with the progress some of the pieces have already made in the short amount of time since the switch, others are pretty bad off but hanging in there. I'm really close to losing 2-3 pieces, major STN and completely browned out, but I think I've already seen one of them start to recover some so we'll see.

It's too soon to praise this rock, even though I pretty much already am, but I do expect a few surprises. I just don't think they'll be nearly as bad to deal with as the dinos, I would not wish that on anyone.

I'm liking the shots already, you can definitely see where the damage has occurred and how everything is healing up and growing over it nicely The oregan tort is looking gorgeous too! Definitely loots of improvement happening though!

I'm glad to hear that you're loving the new rocks though

 

[joshky]

That maxima :inlove::inlove::inlove: holy **** it's gorgeous!!


I'm liking the shots already, you can definitely see where the damage has occurred and how everything is healing up and growing over it nicely The oregan tort is looking gorgeous too! Definitely loots of improvement happening though!

I'm glad to hear that you're loving the new rocks though

I picked the maxima up Friday at my LFS so it's still settling in in that shot, but I couldn't wait to show it off. I lost a large blue one a while back when I tried a leopard toby puffer in my 20g, so when I saw this one I had to buy it.

We'll see how things look in a couple of weeks and see what kind of improvement has been made. I'm not holding my breath on a few of them but who knows, maybe they'll surprise me.




On another side note I got new Salifert test kits and a Hanna ULR meter in Friday, and 8 new ATI bulbs to slowly start switching out my old ones. I went with

3x Blue +
2x ABS
2x Coral +
1x Purple +

which will be replacing

4x Blue +
3x Coral +
1x Purple +

I wanted to try something new, I don't know if I like the cool blue spectrum my current bulb combo is giving me aesthetically so I thought I'd experiment with some ABS. We will see.... :bum:

 

[joshky]

Just recently got the Hanna Phosphorus ULR meter in and was able to try it out today.

PO4 - 0.13 ppm (ew...)

NO3 - 20 ppm (Red Sea)

Kind of surprised by these results, my nutrients have gone up since last week. Despite the levels, my corals are recovering very well. I'm going to up my weekly water change to two 10% changes instead of the one that I've been doing until my nutrients get under control. I imagine this may be due to some of the life on these rocks dying off. I might need to find a plan B and skip the ATS from Turbo's Aquatics, may look into getting an ARID chaeto reactor instead. Will keep you guys posted.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

I love the latest additions. Your clams would be better on a rock and much higher up. Their zooxanthellae do not have any saturation point. The more light they receive the better. I used to keep large clams.

 

[joshky]

I love the latest additions. Your clams would be better on a rock and much higher up. Their zooxanthellae do not have any saturation point. The more light they receive the better. I used to keep large clams.

Thank you, I appreciate the advice. I might see if I can find a place on the rocks for the maxima, but it's attached to the glass right now and I figured with it being such a shallow tank (16"), under 8x54w bulbs that would be plenty sufficient. It's a decent sized clam so it will be hard to find a spot for it on the rocks. The other is a squamosa, or so I was sold... here lately I have been thinking maybe crocea, which would really bum me out big time. I need to get a proper I.D. on it, if it's crocea then that would explain why it's not growing very well for me, I've had it for over a year and I don't think it's noticeably grown much at all.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Appreciate the advice. I might see if I can find a place on the rocks for the maxima, but it's attached to the glass right now and I figured with it being such a shallow tank (16"), under 8x54w bulbs that would be plenty sufficient. It's a decent sized clam so it will be hard to find a spot for it on the rocks. The other is a squamosa, or so I was sold... here lately I have been thinking maybe crocea, which would really bum me out big time. I need to get a proper I.D. on it, if it's crocea then that would explain why it's not growing very well for me, I've had it for over a year and I don't think it's noticeably grown much at all.

Under the circumstances, I would not mess with the clam. As you say, your tank is shallow and the clam is receiving plenty of light. I forgot the depth of your tank when I made my comment.

Most of my clams were T. crocea. I kept them under 500+ mmol.m2/sec. In your set up this is easily achievable. If you can show me its scutes and a top down picture when it is closed up, I may be able to help you identify it for you.

Cheers

 

[joshky]

Under the circumstances, I would not mess with the clam. As you say, your tank is shallow and the clam is receiving plenty of light. I forgot the depth of your tank when I made my comment.

Most of my clams were T. crocea. I kept them under 500+ mmol.m2/sec. In your set up this is easily achievable. If you can show me its scutes and a top down picture when it is closed up, I may be able to help you identify it for you.

Cheers

Thank you Bulent! I will grab some more photos of the clam when I get home tonight, maybe we can get a proper I.D. on it. It's really been bugging me so it would be nice to finally know what it is.

 

[Wrangy]

Definitely leave it where it is trying to remove the byssal threads from the bottom of the glass in the tank will be a nightmare haha my t. maxima is further away from the light and was under much less light when I had led's but has always looked gorgeous

It appears to be a t. maxima, there's a few things that say this:
- The row of tightly-spaced line of eyes that are running around the edge of the mantle.
- The scutes are fairly well pronounced and even like common with t. maxima but that can also be a common feature in t. crocea that haven't burrowed, these are usually much thinner and delicate though.
- (From what I can see) The distribution of the eye-tipped tubercles seems to be the common t. maxima layout, t. crocea can also share this which is why they can be so hard to distinguish.
- One of the other bigger distinguishing features is the lined patterned of the mantle, it's very uncommon you get a t. crocea that has a solid colour with thin radiating lines on the mantle.

A couple of pics that you could take that would absolutely nail this ID is:
- Take one from front on so we can see the shape of the shell, t. maxima are thinner and don't have a "bulge" towards the byssal opening like t. crocea do.
- Another one of the inlet siphon, that shows the small tentacles lining the siphon.
- A side shot of just the shell so you can see the shape of the shell as they both have some features that are able to help.
- A picture of the upper shell margin as t. maxima has a much more pointed shell (almost triangular) and t. crocea has a very smooth margin.

Even without the pics I'm 90% sure that's a t. maxima in terms of the growth issue can you take a pic of the newest scutes that it has grown so we can see the size and colour of them. No one has been picking at it and the foot looks nice and healthy if you're able to see it?

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Josh,

Before posting further photos your clam, have a look at this article written by James Fatherree:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-07/jf/feature/index.php

 

[Wrangy]

Josh,

Before posting further photos your clam, have a look at this article written by James Fatherree:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-07/jf/feature/index.php

That is a fantastic article! You should definitely be able to get it without trying to take the pics lol if you wanted to get serious "Giant Clams in the Sea and the Aquarium" by James Fatherree (who also wrote the article) is one of my favourite pieces of literature on clams out at the moment

 

[joshky]

Hey guys, sorry for the confusion, this is the clam I'm questioning the identity of,

I got home late tonight so no pics, I'll see if I can ID it myself and if not I'll upload some pics. Thanks you guys.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

That is a fantastic article! You should definitely be able to get it without trying to take the pics lol if you wanted to get serious "Giant Clams in the Sea and the Aquarium" by James Fatherree (who also wrote the article) is one of my favourite pieces of literature on clams out at the moment

I have got his book. I also have got Daniel Knop's book titled as "Giant Clams", which is much more thorough in my opinion. Certain things, such as diagnosis of clam ailments and why clams should not be fed are explained much more thoroughly.

 

[Wrangy]

I have got his book. I also have got Daniel Knop's book titled as "Giant Clams", which is much more thorough in my opinion. Certain things, such as diagnosis of clam ailments and why clams should not be fed are explained much more thoroughly.

Imma have to buy that one! Thanks for the heads up mate

 

[joshky]

@Dom and Bulent, I'm thinking the clam might be a hybrid which is why I'm having a really hard time IDing it. I will try to get some photos of it this week and see what you all think, I tried to today but I've been sick and wore out quickly.

I have a small update for you guys, as well all know pictures speak louder than words so I wanted to show some comparison photos from my last update. I will try to get more soon when I feel better.

I am 100% convinced as of right now that things are on track and I'm seeing so much improvement day by day that I'm super happy with. Colors still have a lot of improving to do on all pieces, even my pink lemonade and SSC are both looking like crap color-wise; however they've had the best polyp extension I've ever seen and growth has been fine so I'm thinking it might just be them adjusting to the new parameters of the system? Whatever the case is, I'm not too worried.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Hey guys, sorry for the confusion, this is the clam I'm questioning the identity of,

I got home late tonight so no pics, I'll see if I can ID it myself and if not I'll upload some pics. Thanks you guys.

Can you get it close up its mantle tissue and take another picture from top and sides please? It looks like a T. crocea to me.

 

[reefmutt]

@Dom and Bulent, I'm thinking the clam might be a hybrid which is why I'm having a really hard time IDing it. I will try to get some photos of it this week and see what you all think, I tried to today but I've been sick and wore out quickly.

I have a small update for you guys, as well all know pictures speak louder than words so I wanted to show some comparison photos from my last update. I will try to get more soon when I feel better.

I am 100% convinced as of right now that things are on track and I'm seeing so much improvement day by day that I'm super happy with. Colors still have a lot of improving to do on all pieces, even my pink lemonade and SSC are both looking like crap color-wise; however they've had the best polyp extension I've ever seen and growth has been fine so I'm thinking it might just be them adjusting to the new parameters of the system? Whatever the case is, I'm not too worried.

Nice, Josh!
good color, good growth. glad to hear things are looking positive